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Longmont students learn about science, engineering at rocket camp

CU-Boulder space lab targets underrepresented students

By Whitney Bryen

Times-Call community reporter

Posted:
08/07/2014 05:33:06 PM MDT

Updated:
08/07/2014 05:35:36 PM MDT

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Longmont students Alexis Mosqueda, Kenya Falcon and Natalia Menjivar squealed as their bottle rocket shot into the air Thursday from the basketball court at Longmont's Casa de la Esperanza housing complex.

For the past two weeks, the only girls team at the Rockets for Junior Astronauts camp has been winning most of the challenges, including building and launching rockets.

"We have a new record," Kenya, 12, shouted. "90 feet."

The girls are exactly the target audience that the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics was hoping to attract with the summer camp, said camp coordinator Tom Mason.

The camp, which teaches middle school students about science and engineering through hands-on projects, is aimed at reaching underserved students, including girls, Latino students and low-income families, Mason said.

"They're underserved and underrepresented as far as NASA programming goes," he said. "We want to bring the curriculum to these students from lower socioeconomic situations who don't often have the opportunity to participate in programs like this."

The camp is funded through a university grant and hosted 13 students from Longmont middle schools — mostly residents of the Casa de la Esperanza housing complex, which supports local agricultural workers and their families.

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Thursday marked the end of the first phase of a five-year program. In two years, students will be invited to attend an intermediate level of the camp and then a third, advanced camp two years after that, Mason said.

"We want to keep them involved in a long term project that keeps them interested in STEM topics," Mason said. "Our goal for the current camp is to introduce them to basic engineering and physics by using rockets as tools to teach them about complex design."

Students learned about Newton's laws of motion, NASA rocket designs and teamwork, the girls said. But they also had fun.

Alexis, Kenya and Natalia giggled while they put the final touches on their record-setting rocket.

A black pointed top, construction paper fins and brightly-colored squares covered the girls' rocket, which they named Rosie for the red felt rose glued to the top.

"We get to be creative and make it look how we want," Kenya said. "We wanted it to be as girly as possible."

Four teams of students poured water into their bottles before attaching the rockets to a stand where they pumped air into the bottles creating pressure that launched them toward the sky.

"That was so cool," Alexis yelled as she watched her rocket hit the grass. "I'm definitely going to do more science projects this year."

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